


Two Hundred and Sixteen Hours

by dollfaced



Category: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, and the solitary salt pun is alive and well, enoch's being unreasonable, there is Gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 20:59:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8505169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dollfaced/pseuds/dollfaced
Summary: Jake is away for too long and Enoch creates a whole new level of saltiness about it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> would u believe that i haven't written fic in like a year and now i'm posting two on the same day? im telling you man these dorks are too cute we gotta save ourselves before it's Too Late
> 
> based just on the movie and even then it's probably kinda ooc but i hope you all like it!!

A week and a half he was gone. Actually no, it was closer to nine days. Roughly two hundred and sixteen hours. This, to Jake, seemed like a perfectly reasonable amount of time to stay with his family around Christmas after ‘studying abroad’ for nearly three months. To Enoch, two hundred and sixteen hours and any amount of hours close to it was a near unforgiveable amount of time to be gone for.

Their differing views on the matter became very apparent when Jake returned. When everybody else was excitedly asking about his time away and filling him in on what he’d missed, Enoch was nowhere to be seen. This escaped the notice of approximately no one.

“I believe he’s shut himself in his bedroom,” Olive supplied, which was sweet but not entirely necessary.

Truth as it was, Enoch’s sour mood reached down even to the garden. It felt something like nostalgia without any of the niceness. One step into the house and he unpleasantness was already too much. Without realizing it, Jake seemed to have forgotten the extent to which Enoch could be like this.

 

Miss Peregrine directed Jake into the kitchen away from the other children. “Are you feeling quite alright, Jacob? I must admit, I’m dreadfully surprised at Enoch’s behaviour. I truly believed the two of you had grown closer in your time here.”

“I’m fine, and we did,” he didn’t know what to make of the odd smile she wore at that, “I think he’s just kinda… annoyed.”

“Hmm. I think I may go and speak to him before dinner.” He got the feeling that that particular conversation wouldn’t end on a very happy note for anyone. “In the meantime, I’m sure the children would love to hear more about the times you had in Florida.”

Allowing little time for processing, she turned sharply on her heel and marched up the stairs to exchange a few words with 1943’s grumpiest peculiar.

 

Dinner was a mess. Not the food, the food was actually good enough to cause Jake to forget that dinner was a mess and that he should be acting appropriately for a messy situation. As one could expect, the culprit responsible for making a messy situation out of such a nice dinner was none other than Enoch’s attitude. Fiona had asked if he could pass the salt; he just stared her dead in the eye and it had the same result. There’s not a lot of coming back from that on the dinner’s side.

Miss Peregrine had kept the conversation flowing all throughout. She wouldn’t allow it to not be flowing. It was a small part frightening and a slightly larger part tense. When not distracted by the food, Jake was fairly tempted to tell Enoch he was being immature then and there.

After dinner Enoch went straight back to sulk in his room rather than watching Horace’s dream. Jake deemed it a far better opportunity to address Enoch’s immaturity, so he politely watched Dream Horace try on about three different coats before heading upstairs after the other boy.

 

Enoch’s room was not the best smelling place on Earth given the shelves upon shelves of jarred hearts and all that. Apparently it was as much a smell to get used to as it was one to get un-used to.

The door was cracked slightly open. It always was when Enoch was expecting him. He knocked on the doorframe as a warning and not a question before pushing the door open properly. Enoch didn’t even look up from where he was watching two more of his less-adorable puppets ripping each other apart.

“ _Really_?”

“Why are you here, Jacob?” Enoch asked coldly.

“To see what your deal is.”

“Try to make a little more sense, please. This isn’t your time here.”

“I am here,” Jake crossed the room to stand in front of the other, “to ask you why you are behaving like such an ass.”

Between them, the creepier puppet of the two had taken out the other’s heart and was holding it high in victory. Clearly not in the mood for celebration, Enoch took out its heart as well.

“Right before I left you kissed me. Now you’re acting like you did when I first got here. It’s childish, Enoch.”

“I suppose it is, yes.”

“I was gone for _nine days_.”

“Well, when every day is the same day, nine days without you are a cruel thing to endure.” His mouth was set in a firm line, expression stony as he continued to look down at the clutter on his desk.

Melodramatics aside, Jake did at least sort of understand where he was coming from, though he was still quite pissed off. “I do have a family, you know?”

“Two,” Enoch said, finally looking Jake in the eye.

And it could have been the absolute conviction with which he said it, it could have been the way that conviction clashed with the rare show of vulnerability in his eyes, and maybe, just maybe, it could have been the plain fact that Enoch had said it. The uncomplicated, stripped bare truth that Enoch O’Connor thought him family.

Jake knew he wouldn’t be so lucky as to maintain the grace he’d spoken with prior to that, but he was certainly hoping for as much of it as he could get. “What?” he asked, and his voice was too quiet but hoping had still been worth a try.

“You have a family here, too, Jake. A family who love you quite a lot, and a family who are naturally inclined to worry that if you’re gone too long you might never come back.”

Jake had to bite down the ‘I’m not my grandfather’ rising in his throat, and when that was taken care of he took a few cautious steps around the desk, and when there was nothing between himself and Enoch, he pulled the shorter boy into what he guessed may’ve been a long-awaited hug. “I’ll come back, Enoch. Every time.” And when Enoch was no longer cold and no longer stone, Jake stepped back and pulled a small paper bag from his pocket, handing it to him. “I don’t know if you still celebrate Christmas here, but I saw this and it reminded me of you and I thought…” the floor was suddenly such an interesting thing, “I kinda thought that if you had this then maybe you wouldn’t have to miss me as much next time I have to go back to the States.”

The paper bag crinkled quietly as Enoch pulled out the necklace. “It’s a heart,” he mumbled, like he couldn’t believe the cheesiness of the gift, because it was indeed a heart of the variety that he was a lot more familiar with, though there were a few different things it could mean from Jake.

 

“Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> so i also wanted to say thank you to those who commented on my last fic! you were so speedy and it made me smile even though i'm still experiencing the worst pain known to man (the common cold, rip)
> 
> concrit welcome and i hope you enjoyed!!
> 
> edit: i made a tumblr for my ao3 so if you have any prompts or hcs or you'd like 2 chat please be sure to send me an ask @dollfaced-writes :)


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